Archive for the ‘Psychological Aspects’ Category

Help for Tic Disorders, OCD, Tourett’s, PANS & PANDAS

https://xn123.infusionsoft.app/app/page/maria-rickert-hong-webinar?

webinar signup

Victoria Barrios hosts the Thriving with a Tic Disorder online summit, which explores the root causes of tic disorders.

In this webinar, she’ll discuss highlights from what she’s learned from experts in her summit such as:

•William Walsh MD of the Walsh Research Institute

•Robert Melilo DC, developer of the Brain Balance program

•Jane Hersey of the Feingold Association

•Anke Zimmerman, homeopath

•Mark Blaxill, author of “The Age of Autism”

 

We’ll talk about things such as:

•Triggers of tics such as food additives and medication

•Nutritional deficiencies/imbalances

•Oxidative stress

•Neurotransmitter deficiencies/imbalances

•The role of stress and anxiety

•Homeopathy

•Drug-free approaches

 

Join us to ask your own questions!

RSVP at link above.

As a child, Victoria Barrios was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome, a neurological disorder that involves uncontrollable, repetitive movements or tics.

After cutting out any and all added and artificial sugars and preservatives, her symptoms were no longer controlling her and she was able to function in society again.

Her world later shifted when she discovered that within two weeks of eliminating any and all dairy products she had not ONE sign of acne. 

She finally understood how food could either be our nourishment or our destruction.

She is now a health coach who is the host of the Thriving with a Tic Disorder online summit.

**Be sure to sign up, even if you can’t attend in person so you can get the replay when it comes out the next day.** 

___________________
**Comment**
According to a prominent WI LLMD, 80% of his Autistic and PANS patients have Lyme/MSIDS.

Category:

Activism, Psychological Aspects

When Lyme Disease & Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Overlap

https://www.lymedisease.org/lyme-ehlers-danlos/

When Lyme disease and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome overlap

ella steinbeck, ehlers-danlos and Lyme disease

by Ella Steinbeck

I have been absent. Not just absent from my regular activities or a couple of dinner parties but I have been absent from life.

I have something called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. It’s painful and horrible and since it affects collagen there is no part of my body that is off limits. If you have time to Google it, I suggest it.

It’s all very medical and interesting if you’re into that kind of thing. Very Dr. House-y. You’ll learn about connective tissue, mast cell activation disorder and POTS or dysautonomia. That will all sum up EDS in a very confusing package with a not-so-pretty bow.

I have written about it in the past in a column titled “Dealing with Ehlers-Danlos…or why hyper-mobility isn’t a cool cell phone plan and doing the splits is bad” in The Rockland County Times.

Lyme disease enters the picture

Two weeks ago, I found out that I have Lyme disease. Late Lyme. Chronic Lyme. This means it’s gone untreated and has settled into my body for many years. Another illness. How can this be?

I’m not exactly sure when I contracted Lyme or if I had multiple exposures. But I can safely say I either got it when I was 29 years old or when I was 6. I wish I was kidding. How is this possible?

Where should I start? This story is not exactly what I would call “linear.” Bear with me. I was (and am) having a ton of cognitive issues, depression, anxiety, and physical pain.

My memory had been getting progressively worse. I was having a hard time with word retrieval and getting appointments right. Brain fog is part of Ehlers-Danlos because we often times have autonomic dysfunction. (Depression, anxiety, and autonomic dysfunction are part of Lyme as well, but I didn’t know that yet.)

I’d look at the computer and not be able to recall names of who I needed to email. I would start with A’s and scroll through all of them, then the B’s and so on until I’d see something that jogged my memory.

Or, I’d put in a word and hope some old emails would pop up that connected to the person and email address that I was hoping to recall. I had a general feeling of confusion, like I was doing something wrong all the time.

Disorientation

It was very disorienting and hard to tell people about. I couldn’t think of the words to tell them even if I really wanted to. Every time I told a story, it was filled with “never mind “or “uhh, shoot, I can’t remember.”

I would fill in sentences with acceptable words but not the words I wanted to use. It was affecting me socially. I’d opt to keep my mouth shut and do a lot of smiling and nodding. I tried to limit my speech to simple interactions.

Why was I getting worse? Could it be Alzheimer’s? It’s possible. I was in a severe car accident when I was 22 years old. I had multiple serious injuries and a traumatic brain injury. I also had several other concussions in the past.

I knew I should probably have this looked into. I tried to get into a brain study for TBI and Alzheimer’s, but was not accepted. I couldn’t take it anymore. I felt like I was going crazy. I had to do something.

I decided to make an appointment at the Psychoneuroplasticity Center outside of Dallas TX in November of 2018. Why there? They take into account the whole person. They look at nutrition, do brain mapping, investigate the adrenal system and assess hormones. I felt this was my best shot at understanding whatever was going on inside my brain and body.

Lo and behold, I found out I qualified for Mensa and didn’t have Alzheimer’s disease. Yay!

Brain inflammation

I do have brain inflammation and some malabsorption issues. I have a bit of a learning disability or ophthalmological disturbance called convergence insufficiency. It’s addressed with behavioral optometry and can be rehabbed. I’ve been pretty successful with that actually. As an aside, I’m not sure you should qualify for Mensa if you didn’t even know your IQ was being tested.

My brain also has enough Delta waves. This is why marijuana doesn’t work for me and makes me depressed and paranoid. I’ve never smoked pot successfully. When I say “never,” I mean never. I can’t use medical marijuana and it won’t work even if you have “really-good-stuff-man.”

Right before I got my diagnostics back from the PNP Center, a doctor I saw for a pain treatment had a hunch. He said his wife (who was also a doctor) had Lyme.

Something about my story made him think I had Lyme. I immediately went for a test, assuming he was wrong. I mean, I was “classic EDS.” Ask anyone or anyone who knows about EDS–cognitive issues, joint pain, POTS and mast cell issues are all present in Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Turns out they also show up in Lyme. My weird allergies, interstitial cystitis, and migraines can all be EDS…or Lyme.

Five CDC-positive bands

My Western Blot test showed five CDC-positive bands. So, Ehlers-Danlos may not be the reason for all of my orthostatic and mast cell problems. It may not even be the reason for all of my pain.

Does this mean that if I had been treated for Lyme 13 years ago, I might have lived a normal life? Maybe. I have been in pain since I was a kid. I managed it somewhat successfully until 13 years ago.

Was it Ehlers-Danlos and residual pain from that car accident causing some of my problems while the pain from Lyme is responsible for stopping my life? I’m hoping to find the answers.

I started Lyme disease treatment two weeks ago. The first step is three months of doxycycline. I’ll keep you posted. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do that in a more linear and conclusive fashion.

I try to keep a positive upbeat façade about everything. Nobody likes a Debbie Downer. I hate looking like I need sympathy. But I’d love some empathy. I guess that’s why I wrote this. You never know what a person is going through by looking at them.

Less take, more give

This world could use some compassion and empathy. A little less take and a lot more give. Be kind and ask questions.

If you see a person get on a full bus and ask, “Would anyone mind giving me a seat? I know I look fine but I am sick,” offer them your seat. I once asked that on three different buses. Not one person gave me their seat.

It’s hard when you don’t look sick. I have had people shove me on purpose when I am using a cane for the muscle treatments that I get. I had two different bus drivers close their doors on the cane as I was using it to get onto the bus.

I am tall, thin, somewhat put together (depending on the day) and “able” looking, but I am not able. I need help. I am fighting every day I get out of bed.

Some days are filled with aggressive rest. When I do venture out, every step seems like a miracle. Carrying a bag means I may have spasms and pain later that will need treatment or medication.

So, what’s it like to have an invisible disability? It’s really hard. What is it like to have two invisible illnesses? Really, really hard. Could it be worse? Absolutely. I know that.

Ella Steinbeck writes a column for New York’s Rockland County Times, where this article was first published. You can follow her on Instagram @lifewithlymeandehlersdanlos.

_____________________

**Comment**

Lyme/MSIDS can look like 1,000 different diseases, and many are being misdiagnosed with a plethora of things that could be fixed with simple antimicrobials. The stories are endless:

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/03/24/cat-scratch-disease-caused-teens-schizophrenia-like-symptoms-report-says/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/01/23/never-had-a-single-ms-als-or-parkinsons-patient-in-past-5-years-who-didnt-test-positive-for-lyme-dr-klinghardt/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/03/07/blast-from-the-past-10-year-old-video-shows-state-of-lyme-hasnt-changed-misdiagnosed-with-ms-told-it-cant-be-lyme/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/07/missing-links-connect-the-dots-between-lyme-mental-health/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/10/03/lyme-patient-misdiagnosed-with-anxiety-depression/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/03/26/lyme-its-known-involvement-in-mental-health/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/03/09/researchers-identify-herpes-1-chlamydia-pneumoniae-several-types-of-spirochaete-as-major-causes-of-alzheimers/

I literally could go onto infinity…..

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, Inflammation, Lyme, Psychological Aspects

Ketamine – Reduces Depression-related Behaviors in Mice, Limits Bb in vivo, & Relieves Chronic Pain

https://neurosciencenews.com/ketamine-depression-reversal-11069/

Ketamine reverses neural changes underlying depression-related behaviors: Mouse study

Neuroscience NewsNEUROSCIENCE NEWS
FEATUREDNEUROSCIENCEOPEN NEUROSCIENCE ARTICLESPSYCHOLOGY5 MIN READ

Summary: The formation of prefrontal cortex dendritic spine formation sustains the remission of depressive related symptoms and behaviors following ketamine treatment by restoring lost spines.

Source: NIH/NIMH

Researchers have identified ketamine-induced brain-related changes that are responsible for maintaining the remission of behaviors related to depression in mice — findings that may help researchers develop interventions that promote lasting remission of depression in humans. The study, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health, appears in the journal Science.

Major depression is one of the most common mental disorders in the United States, with approximately 17.3 million adults experienced a major depressive episode in 2017. However, many of the neural changes underlying the transitions between active depression, remission, and depression re-occurrence remain unknown. Ketamine, a fast-acting antidepressant which relieves depressive symptoms in hours instead of weeks or longer, provides an opportunity for researchers to investigate the short- and long-term biological changes underlying these transitions.

“Ketamine is a potentially transformative treatment for depression, but one of the major challenges associated with this drug is sustaining recovery after the initial treatment,” said study author Conor Liston, M.D., Ph.D., of Weill Cornell Medicine, New York City.

To understand mechanisms underlying the transition from active depression to remission in humans, the researchers examined behaviors related to depression in mice. Researchers took high-resolution images of dendritic spines in the prefrontal cortex of mice before and after they experienced a stressor. Dendritic spines are protrusions in the part of neurons that receive communication input from other neurons. The researchers found that mice displaying behaviors related to depression had increased elimination of, and decreased the formation of, dendritic spines in their prefrontal cortex compared with mice not exposed to a stressor. This finding replicates prior studies linking the emergence of behaviors related to depression in mice with dendritic spine loss.

In addition to the effects on dendritic spines, stress reduced the functional connectivity and simultaneous activity of neurons in the prefrontal cortex of mice. This reduction in connectivity and activity was associated with behaviors related to depression in response to stressors. Liston’s group then found that ketamine treatment rapidly restored functional connectivity and ensemble activity of neurons and eliminated behaviors related to depression. Twenty-four hours after receiving a single dose of ketamine, mice exposed to stress showed a reversal of behaviors related to depression and an increase in dendritic spine formation when compared to stressed mice that had not received ketamine. These new dendritic spines were functional, creating working connections with other neurons.

The researchers found that while behavioral changes and changes in neural activity in mice happened quickly (three hours after ketamine treatment), dendritic spine formation happened more slowly (12-24 after hours after ketamine treatment). While further research is needed, the authors suggest these findings might indicate that dendritic spine regrowth may be a consequence of ketamine-induced rescue of prefrontal cortex circuit activity.

This shows a brain

Although dendritic spines were not found to underly the fast-acting effects of ketamine on behaviors related to depression in mice, they were found to play an important role in maintaining the remission of those behaviors. Using a new technology developed by Haruo Kasai, Ph.D., and Haruhiko Bito, Ph.D., collaborators at the University of Tokyo, the researchers found that selectively deleting these newly formed dendritic spines led to the re-emergence of behaviors related to depression.

“Our results suggest that interventions aimed at enhancing synapse formation and prolonging their survival could be useful for maintaining the antidepressant effects of ketamine in the days and weeks after treatment,” said Dr. Liston.

“Ketamine is the first new anti-depressant medication with a novel mechanism of action since the 1980s. Its ability to rapidly decrease suicidal thoughts is already a fundamental breakthrough,” said Janine Simmons, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the NIMH Social and Affective Neuroscience Program. “Additional insights into ketamine’s longer-term effects on brain circuits could guide future advances in the management of mood disorders.”

ABOUT THIS NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH ARTICLE

Source:
NIH/NIMH
Media Contacts:
Nick Miller – NIH/NIMH
Image Source:
The image is in the public domain.

Original Research: Open access.
Liston, C. et al. “Sustained rescue of prefrontal circuit dysfunction by antidepressant-induced spine formation”. Science. doi:10.1126/science.aat8078

Abstract

Sustained rescue of prefrontal circuit dysfunction by antidepressant-induced spine formation

The neurobiological mechanisms underlying the induction and remission of depressive episodes over time are not well understood. Through repeated longitudinal imaging of medial prefrontal microcircuits in the living brain, we found that prefrontal spinogenesis plays a critical role in sustaining specific antidepressant behavioral effects and maintaining long-term behavioral remission. Depression-related behavior was associated with targeted, branch-specific elimination of postsynaptic dendritic spines on prefrontal projection neurons. Antidepressant-dose ketamine reversed these effects by selectively rescuing eliminated spines and restoring coordinated activity in multicellular ensembles that predict motivated escape behavior. Prefrontal spinogenesis was required for the long-term maintenance of antidepressant effects on motivated escape behavior but not for their initial induction.

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**Comment**

Ketamine is used for starting and maintaining anesthesia and induces a trance-like state while providing pain relief, sedation, and memory loss. It can cause confusion and hallucinations as it wears off.  Discovered in 1962 it was used in the Vietnam War due to its safety and is on the WHO’s list of essential medicines.

It’s also used as a recreational drug in raves and as a club drug.  Due to this, it’s a schedule III substance in the U.S.

That said, it’s been shown to limit borrelia in vitro:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/03/10/ketamine-limits-bb-in-vitro/

It’s also been shown to relieve her chronic pain, improve quality of life, reduce depression and suicidal ideation, and reduce opioid consumption:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/09/14/iv-ketamine-in-ptls/

 

Category:

Activism, Psychological Aspects, research, Treatment

Neuro-Lyme is Like Hitting My Head Against a Fog Wall

https://www.lymedisease.org/starling-fog-wall/

Neuro-Lyme is like hitting my head against a fog wall

Like beating my head against a fog wall

by Julie Starling

It was a warm fall evening in Santa Cruz as my husband and I walked the dogs along the beach. Instead of the usual sunset over the sea’s horizon, a dense wall of fog rolled in, motionless, blocking the setting sun from above.

Gazing at the thick wall of fog felt like home. I had just hit a new downturn in my health, so the strange weather brought a kind of comfort. Mother Nature empathized in a way that nobody else could, as she eased the burden of the bright light on my sensitive eyes.

Sometimes when people ask me about Lyme disease, they immediately jump to the most commonly associated symptom of the disease: joint pain. I suppose because it’s the easiest symptom to notice in a person. I’m glad it eventually ended up in my joints because otherwise I’m not sure I’d have a diagnosis.

Neuro-Lyme symptoms

Of all the symptoms of Lyme disease, the neurological manifestations frighten me the most. Maybe because they are harder to see from the outside. Or because they feel so utterly uncontrollable and cruelly invasive. They are the hardest to stop. The bacteria burrows deep into brain tissue to avoid being killed by medications that can’t cross the blood brain barrier.

It’s so hard to explain to someone else without sounding like you’ve lost your mind. At its worst, neurological Lyme disease can cause paralysis, seizures or schizophrenia. With lesser symptoms, the victim is plagued with insomnia, nightmares, brain fog, word or song iteration, word loss (tip of the tongue) and hypersensitivity to sound, motion, or bright lights.

Those lesser symptoms sound fairly benign, but piled up and never-ending, they can make daily living grueling. Explaining neurological Lyme disease to someone else can feel like hitting my head against a fog wall.

“Oh! I hate when I can’t get a song out of my head,” someone will claim. “I forget words and names, too,” says another. No, no, no.

Extreme earworms

Neurological Lyme symptoms are nothing like typical forgetfulness or song earworms (when a song repeats in your head). It’s the earworm so extreme, so radically incessant, it leads to a vicious cycle of panic and insomnia, especially if you don’t know what’s causing it.

When it first happened to me, it was the unending techno music, which I once listened to while on the stationary trainer. It played in my head 24/7, snowballing into weeks of insomnia, incessant agitation and eventually neurological system shutdown. Today, even on good days when I can listen to music, techno is no longer on my playlist.

Tip-of-the-tongue symptoms in Lyme are also vastly different from occasionally forgetting a word. Instead, it’s a daily struggle with common words. I once literally forgot the word “Alzheimer’s” (you have to laugh at the irony) and substituted the word “preying” when I couldn’t remember “hunting.”

Those are only two out of hundreds of instances over the last eight years. As a writer, this was debilitating. In the beginning, I chalked it up to being daft, not knowing it was the start of long journey leading toward more frequent occurrences.

Neurological Lyme can also make it difficult to comprehend written or spoken words.  When I recently opened up the user manual for a new camera, I could read the words individually, but I couldn’t understand the sentences.

This can really rattle a person, especially if you don’t know why it’s happening. Thankfully by then, I knew what was going on and just put the manual down for another day. Nonetheless, the symptoms both fascinate and scare me. It’s like learning a brand new language. Your neurological system has gone haywire. Nothing makes sense, no matter how hard you try.

Sensitivity to sound and motion

There’s also hypersensitivity to sound and motion. It’s hard to explain to my husband, a music lover, who recently installed wireless amps and speakers in every room in the house and outdoor garden areas, that music sometimes feels like an assault on my brain. It mystifies him, even though he knows I have Lyme disease.

Why can music suddenly make me agitated, unhappy and downright crazy, when he’s always known me to love all kinds of music? For some Lyme patients, loud sounds, music, bright lights or fast motion can trigger seizures. For me, music or action and war movies, can trigger uncontrollable muscle tremors, brain fog, confusion, insomnia, extreme agitation, “brain freeze” pain and even anger—not to mention the earworm from hell.

When I’m in a downturn of Lyme, nothing makes me more furious than a cheerful French song, the twang of a country melody or the pitch of pop music.  My husband gets it as best as he can, but since I’m not having a seizure, it’s hard for him, or anyone else to really understand.

A light in the fog

But there’s a bright light in all this dense fog! Recently I discovered that no matter how bad I feel, I can tolerate soft rock music. I don’t know why, but it doesn’t trigger symptoms. So on my darkest days, if my husband wants music, he must endure Foreigner, Journey, Phil Collins and Brian Adams on Pandora’s soft rock station.

Why beat my head against a wall of fog explaining why he can’t listen to music when soft rock is enough to send the message that I’m feeling extra Lymie that day?

As for everyone else, it’s easier to roll with, “Yah, it’s that joint pain disease.”

***

Julie Starling is a writer in California. You can reach her via her website, www.wilddingo.com. 

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**Comment**

By now all of you are saying, “That’s me!”  If not, consider yourself blessed.

The good news is – TREATMENT will TAKE THIS AWAY or reduce it drastically.  Treatment is everything!  Don’t stay in this place!

I remember spending entire days in a darkened, soundless room, but the hardest part for me – a lover of words – was forgetting them.  I’d walk into a room and forget why I was there.  I’d stand there, scratching my head, desperately trying to retrieve WHY I was there. I’d be in the middle of a conversation and stop because I couldn’t retrieve the word I needed.  Frustrating to say the least.

So very thankful this author wrote about her experience.  It’s through our experiences that we help each other as you can literally feel like you are losing yourself and your mind.

Knowing others have similar experiences remind us we aren’t crazy.

For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2015/10/18/psychiatric-lymemsids/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/07/missing-links-connect-the-dots-between-lyme-mental-health/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/02/16/lyme-is-all-in-your-head-a-wake-up-call-to-mental-health-professionals/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/06/30/child-with-lymemsidspans-told-by-doctors-she-made-it-all-up/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/03/26/lyme-its-known-involvement-in-mental-health/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/12/20/diagnosing-ld-in-children-with-neuropsychiatric-illness/  Make sure to read my comment after the article

 

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Psychological Aspects

Folate & You: Perfect Together

https://kellybroganmd.com/folate-perfect-together/

Folate and you: Perfect Together

By

Methylation also helps you clear toxins such as hormones from chemicals, and rogue neurotransmitters that can cause seizures, anxiety, rage, and insomnia.

If you are extremely sensitive to medicine you probably have a methylation problem.  Cohen also states that while some of this stems from genetics, there are other reasons for it such as a lack of the following vitamins:

  • Zinc
  • B2/riboflavin
  • Magnesium
  • B6/pyridoxine
  • B12/methylcobalamin
  • Folate (from food or folinic acid)

1) Poor diet, poor probiotic status, digestive issues, medications, medical conditions like Crohn’s or Celiac, and other genetic traits may cause any or all of these nutrient deficiencies.

2) Xenobiotics – which are chemicals found in our air, water, food, home, work, schools, parks, beds, cosmetics and more.

3) Taking medications that are drug muggers that deplete you of the nutrients in #1 above. Some of the worst offenders (in terms of stealing your methylation nutrients) are methotrexate, metformin, antacids, acid blockers, proton pump inhibitors, corticosteroids, estrogen-containing drugs and nitrous oxide.

4) Drinking alcohol will pretty much shut down your methylation and wipe out your glutathione stores.

5) Green coffee bean extract is incredibly high in catechols and those use up your methylation pathway nutrients fast!

7) If you have Lyme disease, and many people do whether they know it or not, the Borrelia burgdorferi germ uses up all your magnesium (this supplement is a unique and highly absorbable form) to make biofilms and hide. Low mag reduces your ability to methylate. As an aside, this explains why some ‘Lymies’ have bad reactions during antibiotic treatment. Those drugs kill the organism but then your body is faced with poison such as ‘dead bug parts’ as well as ammonia which spikes when Borrelia dies off. Point is, you can’t remove easily the toxins from your body and it backs up in your system (by christopher at www.dresshead.com). If this is you, then use really low doses if you have to take antibiotics, until you’ve opened up your methylation (and other detoxification) pathways.

8) If you take nutrients that deplete methyl groups (like high dose niacin, or the prescription version of that called Slo-Niacin and Niaspan).

9) Heavy metals (think mercury in your diet, or your teeth) or lead in your bloodstream, cadmium if you smoke, high copper, arsenic, etc.

10) High levels of acetylaldehyde, this is a potent neurotoxin released by Candida, and also a by-product of drinking alcohol (even red wine). Don’t drink if you’re a poor methylator. Most of you know who you are, meaning you are a lightweight when it comes to alcohol. Yep, it is likely you are a poor methylator. I will share more about the Candida toxin known as “acetylaldehyde” shortly.

12) Anxiety or a lot of stress. I’m not sure why, but a pessimist or “I can’t do it” kind of outlook seems to make things worse. I think it has to do with your belief systems and how they impact your genes. In my summary, I’ll give you some links to an author and lecturer that has clues on how to change your outlook. (Dr. Bruce Lipton).

Please see Cohen’s article for options if you suspect a methylation defect:  https://suzycohen.com/articles/methylation-problems/

 

 

 

 

Category:

Psychological Aspects, research, Supplements